MCA21

MCA 21 is an ambitious e-Governance project of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India . The core objective of this project is to transform the Ministry’s mode of working from traditional paper to paperless format. Core philosophy is to encompass and facilitate stakeholders for access to database which would be of immense value further business operations. This database in particular relates to the creation/subsistence of charges created against advances sanctioned and released by stake holders  to the the corporate world.

Introduction:

This initiative was launched to deliver  over 100 services to citizens electronically covering almost completely the Companies Act of 1956.  These services are provided in easy and secured manner via Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal.  The MCA 21 is also the first portal under the Government to use the Digital Identity of the Users. This project is the first successful Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan and has received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration.

Revamp Of MCA21 Portal

In recent times the MCA Portal has been revamped and the revamped portal is more user friendly and explanatory for a user visiting MCA21 for the first time. The Portal has defined sections related to the most frequently used functionalities of MCA21 and a detailed step wise process has been defined to assist the user. The user’s who are well acquainted with MCA21 portal functionalities have been provided with Quick Links within all the sections. A special tab ‘Investor Services’ was also added keeping in mind the protection of the interests of investors. This tab consists of link to all relevant websites like IEPF which help protect the interest of investors.

E-stamping for Whole of India:

The MCA 21 offers flexible Payment Options as mentioned – Challan, Credit Card, Debit Card, Internet Banking. It provides uninterrupted service delivery we have contingency plan implemented through Data Centre and Disaster Recovery Centre.

Service Level Agreements are maintained and regularly monitored with the operators to ensure high performance.

Before introduction of e-Stamping, stamp instrument has to be submitted physically in paper format at Registrar of Companies office. This causes delay in service delivery. In the entire process of electronic filing this is the only process which uses paper extensively. In order to eliminate this bottleneck and to increase the efficiency of service delivery, e-stamping was envisaged. Estamping through the MCA21 system has been mandated for all the states and union territories in India. Certain eForms To Be Processed Under STP Mode (Straight Through Processing), That Is The Same Shall Not Be Processed By The RoC User

• Form 2 and Form 3 regarding return of allotment of shares
• Form 18 for change in registered office by an existing company
• Form 32 for change in directors, etc. details by an existing company
• Form 8 and 17 in respect of charges (other than condonation of delay cases).
• Form 1A for name availability by a new company (this included simplification of the Name Availability Guidelines as well)

The companies which had defaulted in filing their annual returns and balance sheets for a continuous period of three years, have been moved into a separate basket as “Dormant“ –companies. Such companies are restricted from doing their eFilings unless the default in filing is made good by them.

The companies which had defaulted in filing their annual returns and/ or balance sheets for any one year or more, have been marked as “Defaulting“ companies. Such companies and their directors are restricted from doing any eFilings unless the default in filing is made good by them.

A detailed Complaint Monitoring system has been implemented in the MCA21 system for the MCA21 stake holders. The users can raise complaints, issues, queries, suggestions through the same and they are provided a unique ticket reference for the same. They can track the status of the same to completion using the ticket reference.

Digital Signatures

Earlier RoC officers used to manually sign the various certificates and send the same by post to the company. Now, the process of digital signing of various certificates by the MCA21 system has been introduced, where there is no manual intervention. Further the digitally signed certificates are sent by email to the company and are also made available on the MCA21 FO portal for verification.

Integration of Designated Partner Identification Number (DPIN)

The process of allotment of Director Identification Number (DIN) by MCA has been made completely paperless. This has been done by doing away with the requirement to file physical proofs; and instead the same are scanned to the DIN application itself. Also, providing Income-tax PAN has been made mandatory for all Indian directors. Further, the DIN application is processed by the system itself based on certification by the practising professional. MCA had separate systems for allotment of DIN under Companies Act and for allotment of Designated Partner Identification Number (DPIN) under LLP Act. Now, MCA has integrated the two systems by having the common identifier as DIN only.

 Integration with Income-Tax And Trademark Departaments

In a process of implementation of joined up services, integration with Income-tax system for verifying particulars of the directors, etc. with their respective Income-tax PAN details was done. Implementation with Trademark system for providing search facility on the TMR database to both internal (RoC offices) as well as to the external stake holders (Company, professionals) has also been achieved.

Integration with Banks:

MCA has introduced a facility for the corporate to open a bank account through MCA21 system itself. The company is required to fill an electronic form on the MCA21 system itself and certain details, documents in respect of the company are sent to the concerned bank by the MCA21 system itself.

NEFT for making payments:

Initially, the MCA21 payments were allowed via Credit Card, Internet Banking & Physical Challan. Internet banking is restricted to 5 banks only. In order to eliminate inconveniences caused due to payment processing delays, MCA introduced payment of MCA fees via NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer) mode. Through this option stake holder can make payment of MCA21 fees through any bank which allows NEFT.  Facility to make payment for various MCA21 services through the physical option (payment through challan at the bank counter) has been restricted only in case the amount payable is more than or equal to Rs. 50,000

Implementation of XBRL:

MCA 21 portal has implemented the XBRL For Filing Of Financial Statements By Certain Class Of Companies. Filing of financial statements by certain class of companies through Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) has been implemented in the MCA21 system. This system entails tagging of the financial statements to the MCA XBRL taxonomy. MCA21 system has provided a tool to the stake holders to validate the XBRL documents before filing. Further the machine readable XBRL instance documents are converted to human readable pdf format by the MCA21 system.

Disabling Mark Urgent Functionality

Initially, while processing a work item by the MCA user, there was a facility to mark a work item as urgent to bypass the First in First Out (FIFO) processing. However, in order to bring in more transparency, this functionality has been stopped. The work items will be processed in the order of their filings only.

Introduction Of Refund Process

Earlier there was no process in MCA21 for refund of fees wrongly paid by the stakeholder while availing various services at MCA 21. Hence, Ministry has decided to refund the statutory fees paid for certain services.  New refund eForm needs to be filed by the stakeholder applying for refund and upon processing of the same the refund request shall be approved or rejected. The refund of MCA21 fees is available in the following cases: a) Multiple Payments of Form 1, Form 5; b) Incorrect Payments and c) Excess Payment. Refund process is not applicable for certain services/ eForms like Public Inspection of documents, Request for Certified Copies, Payment for transfer deeds, Stamp duty fee (D series SRN), IEPF Payment, STP Forms, DIN eForm, etc.